Process of making leather diaphragms



m ch 5, 1929. H. L. BERRY 1,704,676

, mocsss or MAKING LEATHER bummer;

Filed June 10, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INF 12 N2 0 March 5, 1929. V

H. L. BERRY PROCESS OF MAKING LEATHER DIAPHRAGIS Filed June 10, 1926 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Ck"? Z Berry Patented Mar. 5, 1929.

warren srafres PATENT? oF IcE.

HARRY n BERRY, or ATLANTIC cr'rY, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OI MAKING LEATHER DIAPHRAGMS.

Application filed June 10,

My invention relates to anew and useful process of making a leatherdiaphragm, particularly such diaphragms 'as are used in gas metersandthe like, and consists of certain steps by which a piece of leather maybe fashioned and fixed to the desired shape with out the necessity ofwetting. the diaphragm material.

Another objectof the invention is to form consists in placing a piece.of leather upon a die of the desired configuration by means of a cordleaving an over-hanging portion of the leather which is afterwardsevenly distributed about the die and the whole smoothed out as large aspossible; the die with the leather thereon is then placed in a mold andthe over-hanging part smoothed out and fixed to an adhesive treated ringforming a stiffening flange.

In order that those skilled in. the art to Y which this inventionappertains may understand how to carry out the process, I

will describe the various successive steps referrlng by numerals totheseveral instrumentahties, as lllustrated 1n the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this appli- In carryingout my process, I first place apiece of sheet leather 5. over the convex surface of a suit-able'die .6and then fasten said leather on the die by means of a-cord 12, or itsequivalent, which is drawn tight enough to seat a portion of the leatherin a circumferential groove 11, located adjacent the flat outer surfaceof said die. Next, V

the ruflied overhanging or skirt portion of the leather is rearranged toevenly distribute said ruflle portion and smooth out that part of theleather disposed over the die by drawing said leather under the cord,after which said cord 12 is made taut'to prevent accidental displacementof the leather.

For convenience of working, the die may have a central opening '7 forregistration a leather diaphragm by a process which 1926.. Serial No.114,933.

standard 9 extending or projecting from a base 10. v 1 Y I The next stepis to placea gasket"15 on withflthe reduced end 8 of the upright or Ythe rim of a mold '14, the expos'edsurfaceof said. gasketfhaving anadhesive applied thereto, and then inserting the die" 6, with theleather thereon, into the chamber 13 of said mold and removing thefastening cord. Next, the leather skirt is seated against the adhesivetreated gasket and, finally said leather skirt is pressed into firmcontact with the adhesive surface'of the gasket andthe adhesiveallowed'to set.

The pressing is accomplished with a paper hangers or burnishing roll orin any other suitable manner. The cord, when fixed to the gasket, formsthe stifl flange 17 about the body of the. diaphragm 16 as shown inFigs. 5 and 6. g

' From the foregoingdescription, it will be particularly noted that atno time during the processes of formingthe diaphragm, do

I use water or other moistening substances;

neither do I stretch the leather, whereas, in fact, I do compress theskirt portion thereof in order to eliminate the ruffles or wrinklestherein, and,-if found desirable, the completed diaphragm maybe dippedin wax,

oil or other preservative and lubricating sub stances.

'Byeliminating the use of water in the I formation of diaphragms of thischaracter, the leather is left fairlypliable, whereas, it is awell-known fact that the use of water tends to stiffen the leather afterit is dried out, whichoften results in causing the formation of cracks,so that the diaphragm must be discarded; I 4

Of course I do not wish to be limited to 3 the exact: details ofconstruction as herein shown as these may be variedwithin the partingfrom the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new and useful is 1. The herein described methodofforming a leather diaphragm which consists of fasteningv a piece ofleather over a die,

smoothing that portion of the leather in limits of the appended claimswithout decontact with the die, placing said leather covered die within"a mold, smoothing out the margin of the leather over the mold; and

V mountinga gasket on the smoothed-out por tion.

2. Theherein described method of form .evenly distributing the Wrinklesor rufiies in" the depending portion of the leather, then inserting theleather covered die in a mold;

then bending back the wrinkled portion of the leather over the top faceof the mold,

and then smoothing the wrinkles out of said ruflled portion of theleather so as to form 'a-flanga 3. The method of forming a leather dia-I phragm, which consists in placing a piece of leather over a convex,die, then fastening said leather about the circumference of the die,then evenly distributing the wrinkles in the leather about the die, thefastening of the leather providing a depending skirt; then inverting thedie and inserting it in a mold with the leather between said die andmold; then removing means fastening the then smoothing said skirt toprovide a flat flange; and then mounting a gasket on said flange. Y

afiix'ed my signature.

HARRY L. BERRY.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto"

